<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>misc. shipping meta &amp; headcanons by m_class</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27322015">misc. shipping meta &amp; headcanons</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/m_class/pseuds/m_class'>m_class</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek: Discovery</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Depression, Ellen Landry Lives, Explosions, F/F, Flowers, Grief, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, May Ahearn Lives, Medical, Meta, Nicknames, Nonfiction, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Philippa Georgiou Lives, Psychological Trauma, Recovery, Self-Harm, headcanons, interdimensional eels, mentioned Airiam/Nhan, mentioned Keyla Detmer/Joann Owosekun, mentioned May Ahearn/Sylvia Tilly, mentioned Number One/Ellen Landry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:56:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,808</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27322015</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/m_class/pseuds/m_class</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Misc. shipping meta &amp; headcanons; content warnings marked by chapter.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Michael Burnham/Tracy Pollard, Mirror Philippa Georgiou/Jett Reno, Philippa Georgiou/Jett Reno, Tracy Pollard/Jett Reno</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Michael x Tracy - arguments, post-feelings-realization changes, telling family/friends</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><a href="https://starfleetdoesntfirefirst.tumblr.com/post/182812218719/3-7-andor-19-for-michaeltracy-andor">Orig. posted to Tumblr</a><br/>February 2019<br/>content: Self-Harm (Michael's canonical self-endangerment), Recovery, Hurt/Comfort, Grief, Joann Owosekun, Keyla Detmber, Sylvia Tilly, Saru, Tracy's dads, interdimensional eels</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>3. Most common argument? </b>
</p><p>Not to go for the low-hanging fruit, but. Michael’s selflessness and her proclivity for putting herself in danger is definitely the biggest strain on their relationship. Tracy’s been in enough relationships in her younger years that have ended up a little too one-sided when it came to support that she’s wary of situations where she might end up in a situation without reciprocity–of course she’s willing to support a partner during a crisis, but she’s learned the hard way that relationships that lack longterm balance in whatever way shape or form aren’t sustainable. Of course, Michael’s compassionate nature makes the reciprocity question moot when it comes to day-to-day acts of caring–which Tracy worries might be part of the problem, this time around. Can she have a sustainable relationship with a woman whose selflessness verges on self harm? Is she stumbling into the classic trap of trying to “change” another adult by loving them?</p><p>Fortunately, these questions are answered early on, during their first serious argument. In Tracy’s quarters, during their first private moment after Michael is nearly killed on an away mission, Michael seems to almost brush off Tracy’s concern and anguish until she demands, “Do you know what it would do to me if something happened to you?” </p><p>She’s expecting another glib reassurance; instead, Michael freezes, staring at Tracy with dawning, horrified understanding. <em>Oh my god, </em>Tracy realizes, <em>she literally doesn’t. She doesn’t realize there are people who care about her that way anymore.<br/></em></p><p>After that, Tracy can see that it isn’t going to be an uphill battle to support Michael in her recovery, but rather a downhill battle that no one else has bothered to begin. And providing Michael with a normal human amount of care and support and reminders of how much Tracy cares about her, along with a few nudges toward other resources–well, Tracy is more than happy to do that.</p><p>
  <b>7. What’s the first thing that changes when they realize they have feelings for the other? </b>
</p><p>Tracy finds herself attuned to Discovery’s missions, and the endeavors of the bridge crew contingent of the senior staff, in a different way. Formerly, she closely followed what was happening shipwide with a professional eye toward how it would affect the crew, sickbay, and the medical division, along with personal scientific curiosity about whatever the ship was encountering. Now, that awareness has gained a third dimension–everything that happens on the bridge is an indication of what Michael’s day might look like. If the ship is exploring and analyzing a new discovery, Michael is probably taking the lead in data collection and analysis. If there’s a shipwide crisis, as first officer Michael must be under an incredible amount of pressure. And if Michael is on an away mission gone wrong (and don’t they all go wrong?), she’s in danger. </p><p>It’s as though, in addition to what’s happening on the bridge being transmitted to sickbay and from there into Tracy’s constantly-running mental chart of the ship’s status and what the next few hours sickbay might look like, now a part of Tracy’s heart is venturing out of sickbay and onto the bridge with Michael.</p><p>She certainly finds her heart jolting in her chest more than it did before whenever she hears that Michael is in a high-risk situation. But, by and large, it’s not so much worry–serving on a starship means any of one’s colleagues can be suddenly endangered at any given time, and Tracy’s spent years learning how best to cope with that–as heightened awareness. (All right, <em>and worry,</em> she finally admits after finding herself more emotionally exhausted than usual at the end of a day when nothing much happened on her shift but Michael’s away team had a close call with some interdimensional eels. Having feelings for the daring first officer of an exploratory starship comes with more than its fair share of worry, and, if those feelings turn out to be reciprocated, Tracy knows a decent part of her energy in such a relationship will be devoted to finding a healthy way to cope with that.)</p><p>Michael also finds herself more attuned to Tracy after her realization. Later, she will tell her that, from the moment their hands brushed accidentally and Michael’s awareness of her feelings exploded into her mind, it was as though a star glowed to life in sickbay, constantly radiating at the edge of Michael’s awareness no matter where Michael was on the ship and pulling her steps toward sickbay to deliver reports or seek Tracy’s input in person with a force that felt damn near gravitational.</p><p>The biggest change to Michael’s life and state of mind, however, turns out to be more internal and personal. Simply the experience of having a crush–under non-traumatic circumstances, and on someone who she doesn’t have to worry about too much–turns out to be healing for her; it feels like one small part of her life going back to “normal,” where normal is defined as the better parts of the time she spent in school and on the Shenzhou.</p><p>While some of the reasons Michael takes a while to act on her feelings are the obvious painful ones–hesitance about getting close to someone after losing so many people she loves, and worrying she’s not a worthy partner–she’s also genuinely enjoying her crush in and of itself, and savoring the fun, safe-feeling stage of noticing and exploring her own developing feelings. (She tells herself that even if her feelings aren’t reciprocated, that too will, in its own way, be a comfortingly ordinary part of life. Luckily, however, she does not end up having to test this theory.)</p><p>
  <b>19. Who tells their family/friends about their relationship first? </b>
</p><p>Michael tells Sylvia right after their first officially-a-date-date. Joann, and Keyla and Sylvia are all having lunch with Michael a few weeks into the relationship, and the former two, having picked up on the amount of off-duty time Michael and Tracy have been spending together, start making comments about what they’ve been seeing, leading to Michael to happily confirm their suspicions. Tracy has told Michael that she’s ready for their colleagues to know about their relationship as soon as Michael is, so Michael sighs and gives them all permission to spread the word. </p><p>This results in the rest of the bridge crew knowing what’s up within the hour if not earlier.</p><p>There are consent forms to be filled out for any relationships that exists within the command structure, so Michael makes sure to tell Saru–who is generally only questionably in the loop–about their relationship just before they submit their forms, so that he won’t get huffy about finding out from paperwork.</p><p>Tracy, knowing Michael wants to wait a little longer before the crew as a whole knows about their relationship, and being a fairly private person herself, tells just a few of her sickbay colleagues in confidence early on. She writes her dads on Earth a long letter every few weeks; in the letter she’s working on the day after she and Michael’s first date, she mentions briefly that she has a second date coming up with the brilliant, compassionate first officer of the ship; in her next letter, confirmation of their ongoing relationship and a little more about Michael gets two happy, lengthy paragraphs.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Mirror Philippa x Jett - nicknames</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><a href="https://starfleetdoesntfirefirst.tumblr.com/post/182818925479/may-i-propose-to-you-mirrorphilippa-x-reno-the?is_related_post=1">Orig. posted to Tumblr</a><br/>February 2019<br/>content: Nicknames, questionable relationship dynamics/The Pairing Is The Warning</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>8. Nicknames? &amp; if so, how did they originate?</b>
</p><p>I’m pretty sure these two call each other very little <em>other </em>than nicknames, all of them sardonic. Philippa gets spy-related nicknames, in Jett’s most sarcastic tone. “All right, Mr. Bond.” “Sure, Intergalactic Woman of Mystery.” <em>“Great </em>plan, Mrs. Peel.” “Whatever you say, Maxwell-Smart-in-hot-pants.”</p><p>Philippa, meanwhile, generally goes with “hey you” or “you.” When she does use proper nicknames, they’re said with a sneer, but come with an underlying implication of respect, because the nicknames she uses for Jett tend to be the nicknames Jett gives herself. Given that they’re derogatory terms in the first place that she takes on to mess with the likes of Stamets, a la “gearhead” and “grease monkey,” there are a few layers at play here, but Philippa usually uses said nicknames when she’s asking for Jett’s expertise or opinion at something. So, the backhanded admission of respect for Jett, her competence, and her chosen vocation comes through loud and clear.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Jett x Philippa - theme song</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><a href="https://starfleetdoesntfirefirst.tumblr.com/post/183180722454/jettphilippa-26">Orig. posted to Tumblr</a><br/>March 2019<br/>content: Psychological Trauma, Injury, Recovery, War, lyrics re: explosions/fire</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>26. What would be their theme song? </b>
</p><p>“Level Up” - Vienna Teng</p><p>
  <em>Begin again<br/>Dynamite the dam on the flow<br/>Your body feels the tock tock tock of time as it hammers<br/>Lord we are cinders<br/>From a fire burning long ago<br/>But here it is the knock knock knock of your own heart that matters</em>
</p><p>My original inspiration for shipping them was that they’re both made of iron and sarcasm and compassion, and this song feels like it has that balance–hope and optimism with iron and fire underneath. </p><p>Coming from a conversation I had with elissastillstands – they share a very specific combination of idealism and practicality. They are both MADE of compassion, MADE of their desire to help others, and being so strongly rooted in that enables them each to make pragmatic choices that are still very grounded in their ideals. The song feels like it embodies that kind of intense yet ultimately uplifting energy.</p><p>More generally, I just like it for them because they’re both people who have faced some of the worst horrors of the universe (I headcanon that Philippa was one of the people Jett saved on the Hiawatha, so they’re coming out of that together on top of the war experiences each went through beforehand), but they’re still going—and not only that, but still hanging onto hope and idealism—together.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. the AU with six F/F pairings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><a href="https://starfleetdoesntfirefirst.tumblr.com/post/182998776299/i-am-still-on-quasi-hiatus-due-to-life-stuff-and">Orig. posted to Tumblr</a><br/>February 2019<br/>content: Philippa Georgiou Lives, May Ahearn Lives, Ellen Landry Lives, Injury, Hurt/Comfort, Recovery, mushroom possession, I realize that Airiam x Nhan has now become incredibly angsty in hindsight but will that stop me? it won't, and retroactively, Airiam Lives</p><p>Not gonna lie, I'm still inordinately pleased with this one. While I haven't written this exact AU (yet), I DO have a medium-long WIP feat. Jett x Philippa where Jett saved Philippa on the Hiawatha, with background Michael x Tracy (and more-background Joann x Keyla). :}</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I am still on quasi-hiatus due to life stuff, and have quite a bit of actual content to generate as soon as I have time (thanks again to everyone who joined me in f/f rarepair hell and sent Valentine’s Day asks! I have been having a wonderful time mentally outlining the ones I haven’t posted yet…They’re Coming). BUT my brain is basically bouncing off the walls right now and I have to briefly share my descent into f/f rarepair hell: part 2</p><p><a href="https://starfleetdoesntfirefirst.tumblr.com/post/182669885574/starfleetdoesntfirefirst-you-know-who-else-would">my original descent into f/f rarepair hell</a> was basically iterating/multishipping, which, believe me, is still on with a vengeance. But today’s f/f rarepair hell is sort of……..the converse of multishipping</p><p>My headcanon for Jett x Philippa is that Philippa is one of Jett’s patients on the Hiawatha (she was rescued just before the Hiawatha crashed, so there was no opportunity for news of her rescue to be transmitted to Starfleet before she got re-lost). And I realized today that that would dovetail nicely with Michael x Tracy for some #Angst With A Happy Ending—Tracy terrified for Michael when she gets left behind on the asteroid and injured, Jett waiting to see if a full sickbay will be able to save Philippa, Philippa coming round only to find out Michael has been hurt, Michael waking up and learning Philippa is alive, everyone crying at this point probably</p><p>And then I thought, why not make it triple gay? Nhan is also on that away mission! Airiam, who briefly worked with her on a former ship before Nhan was assigned to the five-year mission, and still has a big ol’ crush on her, is quietly panicky, and very relieved when she makes it back safely.</p><p>Meanwhile Joann and Keyla, who are definitely already together in this scenario, are There, and pick up on what’s going on and comfort her. Quadruple gay.</p><p>And if being part tardigrade means Paul can bring Hugh back, being possessed by mushroom!May definitely gives Sylvia the power to bring real!May back from the dead, And They Date. Quintuple gay.</p><p>Me looking at this post: Am I missing anyone? Oh Landry, this for sure needs to be a Landry Lives AU as well, but who can she…</p><p>LANDRY AND NUMBER ONE</p><p>*whispers* sextuple gay</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Jett x Tracy - general meta</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><a href="https://starfleetdoesntfirefirst.tumblr.com/post/617040474479427584/how-about-some-meta-about-jett-renotracy-pollard">Orig. posted to Tumblr</a> (+ a headcanon about them going against the 2x10 plan to torture/kill Michael, but I didn't want to figure out tags)<br/>May 2020<br/>content: Medical, virus, Explosions, time crystal, mentioned depression and coercion re: Michael Burnham, Paul Stamets, Saru</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>how about some meta about Jett Reno/Tracy Pollard, if you feel like it?</strong>
</p><p>OKAY SO my thing with this ship is that. Both of them are both very sarcastic and very open/earnest at the same time. Specifically, as well as being fairly straightforward about who they are and what they want to do and what they believe, they each place a high value on life, human and otherwise, in this very…I guess I would call it a very <em>sincere </em>way.</p><p>In what I think of as Tracy’s defining-character moment, the sickbay scene with Michael and Chris in the ep in which the Sphere is introduced, Michael characterizes the Sphere’s interference with their systems as a “virus,” prompting Tracy to tell her, “You’re attaching a known medical diagnosis to an unknown entity”—a medical-division counterpart to Michael’s science-officer reminder to Chris only hours before that “it is premature” to characterize the Sphere as a malevolent “spider” without knowing more about it. </p><p>It’s an incredibly Star Trek-y characterization of Tracy, but also a complex one. In context, she isn’t being “woo” about the sphere being potentially not as malevolent as it seems, but rather the opposite—the topic comes up because of her grim reminder to Michel and Chris that “life support’s down to 60% percent, but who’s counting?” which prompts Michael to argue that “it is not logical for a virus to kill its host” and Tracy to deliver her attaching-a-known-medical-diagnosis-to-an-unknown-entity rejoinder. In other words, Tracy is urging caution, and potentially an adversarial viewpoint, towards the current threat to the lives of her crew—but doing so through a framework that suggests an underlying openness to observation, discovery, and resisting easy assumptions about the universe around her.</p><p>Meanwhile, Jett has a similar balance of being simultaneously pragmatic, sarcastic, and sincere in her integrity. She stays behind to care for the critical-condition patients on the Hiawatha, and jumps into dangerous situations again and again on the Discovery, from the engineering explosion to the time crystal, putting herself at risk to protect the people around her (and, unlike say MICHAEL, seems to be doing so as someone fully able to fairly consent to risking herself, rather than being unduly influenced by guilt/depression/the attitudes and sometimes coercion of those around her–but, ahem, anyway.) And, in true Trek fashion, she even forms a bond with a lifeform much different from herself—aka Paul Stamets—as they navigate their annoyance with and deep care for each other (the “I still don’t like you” “it’s mutual” hand-clasping scene before Jett stays behind have her brain blasted by the time crystal? I WILL NEVER BE DONE HAVING FEELINGS ABOUT IT). Jett cares deeply about the lives of the people around her. But she isn’t about to be, like, gooey about it.</p><p>In addition, Jett and Tracy are both very competent, and clearly value and respect competence in others. Not to mention that they’d have a lot to talk about on a professional level re: Jett’s foray into field medicine. </p><p>And, last but not but not least, as that one gifset points out (linking in a reblog so Tumblr doesn’t auto-hide this post from the character tags)… they can bond over being partners in one of the noblest pursuits starship crew can undertake: taking the piss out of their commanding officer when he gives them gratuitously redundant instructions.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Michael x Tracy - bringing each other flowers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><a href="https://starfleetdoesntfirefirst.tumblr.com/post/625015118916386816/michaeltracy">Orig. posted to Tumblr</a><br/>July 2020<br/>content: Flowers, Vulcan, Michael's parents</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="replies">
  <p>
    <b>Of [ship], who’s more likely to bring the other flowers? </b>
  </p>
  <p>HMM. EXCELLENT QUESTION.</p>
  <p>Anon, I don’t know if you asked this one for this pairing because of my headcanon about Tracy and Michael and <a href="https://starfleetdoesntfirefirst.tumblr.com/post/189404709669/for-the-summer-meme-and-for-tracy-pollard">Tracy’s container garden</a>, but this is definitely a stumper.</p>
  <p>On one hand: one of my central motivations for writing this ship is for Michael to have a partner who cherishes and cares for her rather than only asking things of/from her (ahem @ pretty much everyone in Michael’s life). And I headcanon Tracy as raising succulents! So! Obviously Tracy is more likely to bring Michael flowers, right?</p>
  <p>Not so fast.</p>
  <p>Even though I’m assuming (?) romantic partners bringing each other flowers as a token of romance is not something Michael would have witnessed much on Vulcan, we now know she grew up with her parents until she was ten, and Gabrielle and Mike <em>definitely </em>seem like the kind of couple who would have partaken in this particular Human romantic tradition with each other. And, of course, Michael is deeply caring and would undoubtedly go for traditional romantic gestures if she thought they were something her current partner would appreciate.</p>
  <p>So, I propose that Tracy is the first to bring Michael flowers (Michael melts), but once it’s on Michael’s radar as something that Tracy finds meaningful, they are equally likely to bring each other flowers (with Michael and her romantic soul doing it perhaps a little more frequently).</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>